Mustangs fall to Sylvan Hills 5-1Michael Christopher Assistant Sports Editor Independence Day was Wednesday, but the Russellville Cogswell Motors Mustangs American Legion baseball teams offense was hoping for some fireworks from their bats Thursday night at M.J. Hickey Park. Instead, they gave up a towering two-run home run in the fifth inning that would put the Sylvan Hill Bruins ahead 5-0. The Mustangs could only put together an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth to lo...

Mustangs on the right trackCourier sports staff The Cogswell Motors Mustangs, Russellville's American Legion baseball team, picked up a much needed win Sunday as they defeated Hot Springs Lakeside 6-4. Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth, Garrett Hill hit a three-run home run to give the Mustangs the victory. "We are playing a lot better now," Cogswell Motors coach Rob Vessell said. "We are playing the way we were at the beginning of the season." The Mustangs (7-9) ...

Struggling Mustangs pick up valuable win TuesdayBy Michael Christopher Assistant Sports Editor The Coswell Motors Mustangs, Russellville's American Legion baseball team, reversed roles with Mayflower on Tuesday night at M. J. Hickey Park and took advantage of two huge errors in the thrid inning that plated five runs. The Mustangs came away with a 9-1 victory in five innings, their first home win of the season. "They've done a great job all year. To be going through a stage like we've been g...

Predators prepare for stateMichael Christopher Assistant Sports Editor What comes to mind when you think of anteaters? The University of California-Irvine Anteaters who are currently one of eight team's left in the College World Series, should hopefully come to mind. Geno Chiolino, coach of the River Valley Predators, said he compares his 13-year-old team to the Anteaters. The Predators will compete at 2 and 6 p.m. Saturday at Hickey Park in the 8-13 USSSA State Basebal...

Hickey Park to host USSSA baseball tournamentFor The Courier M.J. Hickey Park will host the USSSA 14-under AA pre-state shoot-out tournament beginning today with four games of pool play, four more games Saturday of pool play with the final day of competition Sunday. The Clarksville Cardinals will play the Conway Vipers to begin the tournament in Pool A at 7 p.m. today. The River Valley Predators will open the tournament against the Conway RiverDawgs at 7 p.m. in Pool B competition. Other...

Cogswell Motors runs away with victoryCourier sports staff The Fort Smith Tournament kicked off Friday at Hunts Park with the Cogswell Motors baseball team defeating Van Buren 7-1 in American Legion baseball. The team went perfect stealing 11 out of 11 bases. Cogswell Motors scored most of its runs in the sixth inning and got a complete-game performance from Nick Wilson. Wilson went seven innings, striking out 10 men while only walking one and giving up an unearned run. Cogswell s...

RJHS East and West compete in recent track meetsCourier Sports Staff Russellville Junior High East and West Whirlwinds and Lady Whirlwinds recently competed in the North Central Arkansas Conference meet at Conway. Girls results Caitlyn Bounds, Allysa Hansen, Kara Shirley and Allison Ridenhour finished eighth for the East Whirlwinds in the 3,200-meter relay with a time of 11:23.17 Bounds finished eighth in the 1,600-meter run for the East Lady Whirlwinds with a time of 6:03.41 Ashley Regier ...

Russellville Rippers and Rockhounds No 1 Seed in TournamentRussellville Rippers take the lead going into Sunday's bracket play in the 2nd Annual On The Prow 12-U Open. Rippers beat Central Arkansas Express 10-9 and then went on to beat Maumelle Bulldogs 10-6. Rippers Cory McKown brought in two runs in the bottom of the first with the Bulldogs tying up in the top of the second. Bottom of the 2nd the Rippers scored 3 runs to pull the lead 2-5.Rippers took over the game and pulled in 10 runs to Bulldogs ...

Predators on the prowlPredators win USSSA 13U Tournament Courier sports staff The Russellville River Valley Predators won the second annual On the Prowl Tournament at M.J. Hickey Field last Saturday. The Predators used heroics and rallies to claim the championship title. After losing their only game to the Arkansas Legends 4-1, they came back to beat them in the championship game. Russellville won its first game 8-1 over the Conway Cards but lost its second game to...

East and West teams competeCourier sports staff It has been a busy last few weeks for the Russellville Junior High School track teams. Last Thursday, all four teams competed in the Whirlwind Relays at Cyclone Stadium. Whirlwind Relays Girls In the girls' events, the East Lady Whirlwinds finished second with 146.5 points, while the West Lady Whirlwinds were sixth wih 33 points. East Lady Whirlwinds Field events Jaimie Long was second in the high jump with a leap of 4 fee...

RYBA: Let's play some ballBy Anna Schumacher Special to The Courier As another foul ball landed on the grassy field at the M. J. Hickey Baseball Complex, all the kids in the vicinity scrambled to retrieve the souvenir, while another handful of kids scrambled behind home plate, even though they had no chance of getting there in time. During those moments, it appeared this could be the start of something fun. Will they all grow up to be baseball players in high school? P...

Junior Pirates swashbuckled way through 4AAAABy Jared Iverson Magee For The Courier Refuse to lose. That was the unofficial motto for the Dover Pirates' Junior boys basketball team, and that's exactly what they did. Led by coach Michael Bollman, the Pirates were co-conference champions, sharing the title with Clinton, and even more impressively, they brought home a district championship - a first in Dover boys' basketball history. The road to the top was not easy for the Pirates. Last ye...

East Lady Whirlwinds fall to BryantBy Quinton Bagley Sports Editor No matter what level a team plays at - be it junior high, senior high, college or pro - only one team can end the season the way it wants at its respective level. Despite all the success during the season and the number of accolades they receive, only one team can end the season with a win. Unfortunately for the Russellville Junior High East Lady Whirlwinds, their season ended Saturday with a 32-22 loss to Bryan...

Lamar's Jr. ladies beat CharlestonCourier Sports Staff LAMAR - The Junior Lady Warriors remained undefeated in 4AAA Conference play Monday night after a 25-19 win over Charleston. Lamar (18-2, 11-0 4AAA) outscored the Junior Lady Tigers 6-2 in the first. In the second, Lamar continued to build its lead as it outscored Charleston 7-6 to take a 13-8 lead into the break. It was much the same in the third as the Junior Lady Warriors added seven more points to their total while hol...

RJHS West takes 2 from Conway BlueBy Laura Eppes For The Courier Russellville West claimed two victories Thursday night against the Conway Blue Junior Wampus Cats. The West Lady Whirlwinds defeated the Junior Lady Wampus Cats 30-20, and the West Whirlwinds beat Conway 25-23, at Whirlwind Gymnasium in Russellville. It was a slow start for the West 'Winds (4-7, 2-4) as Conway won possession at the tip off, and scored the first two points on free throws at 5:05 in the first perio...

East vs. West: RJHS faces offQuinton Bagley Assistant Sports Editor One last game before the Christmas break was on the schedule for both RJHS East and West on Tuesday night as the two teams faced off in Whirlwind Gymnasium. The Lady Whirlwind game was a nail-bitter down to the final buzzer as the West Lady Whirlwinds came away with the 24-23 victory. The East Lady Whirlwinds (4-7, 0-4 Central Arkansas Jr. High Conference) jumped out to an early lead outscoring the West L...

Whirlwind Tournament tips off MondayCourier sports staff Eight games are scheduled for Monday to open the Whirlwind basketball tournament. Games are scheduled to begin at 4:15 p.m. and will be split between the RJHS gymnasium and Cyclone Gymnasium. The double-elimination tournament's Monday schedule includes four girls' games and four boys' games. Games scheduled Monday at RJHS Whirlwind Gymnasium are: Conway Blue girls vs. Cabot South girls at 4:15 p.m., Conway Blue boys vs. Cl...

RJHS East wins conference tourneyQuinton Bagley Assistant Sports Editor Russellville East Lady Whirlwind volleyball coach Cindy Williams was ecstatic Saturday as her girls outscored an undefeated Mount St. Mary's team 2-0 with scores of 25-23, 25-21 to claim the Central Arkansas Conference tournament championship in Sheridan. In the first game, Laura Brown had three points and one ace. In the second game Courtney Coulter had five points and Kia Byrd had three points. For the ...

Smith's late TD lifts East 'WindsQuinton Bagley Assistant Sports Editor An unlikely hero emerged Thursday night as the Russellville East Whirlwinds defeated the Conway Blue Wampus Kittens 20-14 at Cyclone Stadium. With just over four minutes to play in the ball game and the game tied at 14 apiece, things turned ugly for the Russellville East Whirlwinds as they were driving for the go-ahead score. On fourth and six, East 'Wind quarterback Blake Robinson took off down the right...

RJHS West gets much-needed winQuinton Bagley Assistant Sports Editor Russellville's West Whirlwinds (2-4, 1-3) got a much-needed win Thursday night as they defeated the Vilonia junior Eagles 27-16 at Cyclone Stadium. After taking a 13-0 lead into the locker room, the West 'Winds were looking to increase their lead in the third quarter. It didn't take them very long to do just that as West 'Wind Averian Collins took the kickoff back 87 yards for the score. The 2-point attem...